I don't pretend to be a complete guide for you, but it might give you some thought about the list of things that I've stuck to most of the time and I think can be a useful impetus to start changing things in your life. towards greater financial stability.
Situation.
I believe that my start was quite on the poverty line. Not to say that I didn’t have enough food, but at the age of 19 I went my own way and to this day was independent of my parents or from significant financial assistance from them. I do not stand out for something unusual, it can be said that 70% of students started and still read the same way to this day, but I fully believe that, receiving 300 euros per month as benefits or part-time jobs per month at the time of 2011, one could well call me being poor :). I’ll also add that I didn’t make it to the millionaires, but rather I can attribute myself to the middle or upper middle class today.
For myself, I developed a list of things almost from the very beginning of the path, which I still adhere to now in various areas of life. More on these principles.
- Structure and planning
From the very beginning I understood one wonderful thing. Money and numbers love excel and clarity. It doesn’t matter if you operate with 300 euros or several tens of thousands, your money will be managed in the same file, and if you systematically add all your income and expenses at least once a month, you can learn a lot from yourself. By the way, today my budgeting file, which I use myself, can greatly help you with this. If you are interested in what it is, then you need to join a closed group. I guarantee you will not find such a file on the Internet 🙂
So I beat up all my flows from month to month. I understood what and how much it costs and I almost extremely accurately estimate how much this or that idea will cost me or where I could test myself and save more. I like to be surprised at how I see the number 2011 in 300 and how it has changed over the years. I guarantee that these amounts will always go up, fluctuations and periodic drawdowns are possible, but as a result, in annual terms, you will see a stable growth.
- Savings are commensurate with your profit.
At an investment festival, right from the stage, one investor seriously offered to buy scrapped food from restaurants and shops, which irritated me. Savings should be within reasonable limits and commensurate with how much you earn, but you should not deprive yourself of pleasures if they do not hit your monthly budget. Everyone can find many sources of additional savings for themselves, for example, not traveling for a year or not smoking or renting things or not buying branded things. In my case, the most important saving was the lack of own housing/apartment. I shared space with friends and even after purchasing my property, I just rented it out and stayed to share living space with a friend. So I lived for about 8 years, if you also take into account the university years.
- Home and mortgage loans are a boon.
Few people understand this, and probably well, otherwise too many would be able to get out of the poverty line. My first and most significant boost in income and assets came from savings on housing and then on rental income. All thanks to the "hated" capitalist system, which is not loved by many, especially crypto fans .
- Young? Take risks, but wisely.
Risk and return always go hand in hand. I worked and invested in business lines. I tried in 10 years as many as 5 different lines of business and although I didn’t succeed in them (I didn’t earn millions in style), I got incredible experience and knowledge to do something else. In a sense, I acted very risky, I saved money and sent all the money to business or real estate. Sometimes it came back to me many times back and thus I reinvested again. At the same time, my standard of living did not change, I still lived modestly. I was afraid of losing money, but I also understood that even if I lose everything, it will not distinguish me much from the starting position, so why not take a chance?
- Constantly learning something new.
There are things and courses that are expensive, but at some point you may be very surprised when one professional course that is expensive today will return 4 times more in the future. This at the initial stage seems ephemeral, intangible, but following this principle over the years, I realized that it returns in different manifestations of life.
- Work is the main source of income. I'm serious!
It is no secret that from such a starting position of a silver coin, it is not worth counting on a significant increase in finances, therefore work is the main contribution to your finances. Professional growth, professional development, salary negotiations, periodic change of employers and your professionalism will speak for you. This is a systematic strategy, phased and requires patience and perseverance. Unfortunately, on my way I did not meet companies or areas that would be breakthrough in order to get an option package, but we already have about 1000 examples in Estonia when white-collar workers turned into semi-millionaires overnight. Wise, Pipedrive, Bolt, Veriff, Skype, Zego, if you were lucky enough to work in a startup at the very initial stage and stay there for years, then at some point in time you could be very lucky. Do not underestimate the scope, the youth of the company and your professionalism in any field. After all, it is these factors that can, if not give you a millionth option, since at least a good salary from where you can save a lot.
- Club 50 to 50.
Income is 100%, we take 50% and put it aside. I will not write here what to do with this 50% part in detail, but in general terms - invest! Invest in a business, a hobby, an education, the stock market. Once accustomed to this style, sooner or later it will return to you in the form of dividends or stock growth or in the style of a successful business or in professional growth. Easy to say but hard to do, which is why many people are left alone with their "difficult" finances.
These principles work all together, systematically and for a long time, but I can safely say that this is the way to get out of the financial hole. There are none other than rich dad, mom, husband, wife, and a Cayman inheritance.